Brühl, 2 Sep 2000

The event at Augustusburg Palace in Brühl (near Cologne) was one of a series that celebrated the 300th birthday of Clemens August, Bishop and Prince Elector of Cologne. The castle there was one of his projects. An interesting side note: Clemens August was the son of Max Emanuel, the Elector of Bavaria who built two of the three palaces in my home town, Schleißheim, and thereby became a kind of patron of the town.

Our "job" there was to portray the entourage of the Elector. Other groups present were falconers, musicians, dancers, Commedia dell'Arte, to name just a few.

Representing L'Age des Lumières were: Christina, Diana, Doro, Olaf, Sophie, Stefanie and yours truly.

The organisers had obviously planned for fair weather only, but it was raining cats and dogs one moment, and dry but cool and windy the other. This meant that we couldn't stroll in the gardens as usual, and that the whole schedule was thrown over so that we always had to ask when our next "performance" would be, only to learn upon arrival at the stage that it had been postponed yet again. During the breaks, we stayed indoors, looking at the exhibition about Clemens August (which was well presented) or chatting or whatever.

We got back to the dressing room shortly before 10 and learned to our shock that Sophie somehow had lost her purse, car key and mobile (stolen?!)... none turned up that night. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they will - I guess Sophie had her ID in there, and she'll need it back his week to go to France!

And now... the pictures!
[ Click on the thumbnail pics to get the large version.]

The Elector and his entourage preparing the first appearance. From left - the guy in red and pink is the major domo, then the elector; in black, orange/blue and green/yellow members of a group we shall call "the fairies"; peeking from behind orange/blue and green/yellow are Stefanie and Olaf; then Doro, Diana and Sophie.
The fairies were rather amusing: The men were acting through gay and out the other side, the lady was wearing hoops (or whatever) that gave her a backside a horse would be ashamed of. Unfortunately, I never got a pic of them from behind. *g*

The baroque park as seen from our dressing room in the attic floor of the castle. Hardly visible, there are horn players in the flower beds and falconers along the main axis.

A rest at the restaurant. We actually got vouchers to buy food/drink for! From left: Olaf, Sophie, Doro.

Amalie of Bavaria. There was a lady who took polaroids of children dressed in a "hermine" cloak and crown. Sophie and Doro managed to persuade her to take pics of them with the crown as well, then developed this idea that my dress would be even more suited for a crown... so there you are, one of the few pics I am in.
(My dress is a re-creation of what we call the "robe à l'allemande", i.e. German nobility dress. I'd worked day and night for a month to finish it.)

Fencers in the dark. The audience had already left to see the fireworks when two die-hard fencers were still practising onstage for the hell of it. In very contemporary (for Clemens August) early 17th century "Cavalier" garb.

Drooling abot the Elector. Obviously the ladies were fascinated by their lord and master. Just look at Doro's expression! After all he had made a poem about her... OK, he'd got her name a bit wrong... Doris instead of Doro... but we all knew whom he had watched bathing nekkid...

The palace illuminated. The evening was concluded by fireworks accompanied by suitable music (guess!). See the elector and his entourage watch it!

Doro it was who got this wonderful idea of how the name "L'Age de lumières" could be illustrated... here she is, the human lampshade.

...and Sophie, too... BTW, the lamps are set into the ground to illuminate the palace. Let's study the construction of the hoop skirt and how the jupe was pieced...*eg*

And now Diana, the last but not least of the pastel ladies... my dark blue skirt wouldn't let a single ray through...

The ladies stacked! Did you notice? Between them, they cover the whole rang of pastel colours: pale pink, pale blue, pale yellow.

The whole Lumières group present.

In civilian dress. They had this spooky elevator with a mirror roof. Makes you start the first time you look up. But when you carry your costumes and stuff downstairs late at night, you bring out the digicam... and spook others!

Here are some more pictures taken by our cour photographer, Diethelm, who travelled all across the country to be there. Thanks, Diethelm!

Carnival-ish group of musicians
Commedia dell'arte and dancing group
Solo dancers - I'm not an expert but I think they were very good
The maître de danse resting
A quartet of exotic birds
A quintet of lumières
The "marquis", one of the three fairies, at the museum shop.
The other two fairies at the shop
Lumières preparing for the first appearance
... the preparation took a while due to the mis-organisation
Lumières onstage
Same from behind stage
The way offstage - difficult to master in long and above all wide skirts
The elector reads his poems... the one about Doris... *hint, hint*

Hope you had as much fun looking at these pics as I had taking them!

MAIN | SEARCH

The Elector and his entourage preparing the first appearance. From left - the guy in red and pink is the major domo, then the elector; in black, orange/blue and green/yellow members of a group we shall call "the fairies"; peeking from behind orange/blue and green/yellow are Stefanie and Olaf; then Doro, Diana and Sophie. The fairies were rather amusing: The men were acting through gay and out the other side, the lady was wearing hoops (or whatever) that gave her a backside a horse would be ashamed of. Unfortunately, I never got a pic of them from behind. g
The baroque park as seen from our dressing room in the attic floor of the castle. Hardly visible, there are horn players in the flower beds and falconers along the main axis.
A rest at the restaurant. We actually got vouchers to buy food/drink for! From left: Olaf, Sophie, Doro.
Amalie of Bavaria. There was a lady who took polaroids of children dressed in a "hermine" cloak and crown. Sophie and Doro managed to persuade her to take pics of them with the crown as well, then developed this idea that my dress would be even more suited for a crown... so there you are, one of the few pics I am in. (My dress is a re-creation of what we call the "robe à l'allemande", i.e. German nobility dress. I'd worked day and night for a month to finish it.)
Fencers in the dark. The audience had already left to see the fireworks when two die-hard fencers were still practising onstage for the hell of it. In very contemporary (for Clemens August) early 17th century "Cavalier" garb.
Drooling abot the Elector. Obviously the ladies were fascinated by their lord and master. Just look at Doro's expression! After all he had made a poem about her... OK, he'd got her name a bit wrong... Doris instead of Doro... but we all knew whom he had watched bathing nekkid...
The palace illuminated. The evening was concluded by fireworks accompanied by suitable music (guess!). See the elector and his entourage watch it!
Doro it was who got this wonderful idea of how the name "L'Age de lumières" could be illustrated... here she is, the human lampshade.
...and Sophie, too... BTW, the lamps are set into the ground to illuminate the palace. Let's study the construction of the hoop skirt and how the jupe was pieced...eg
And now Diana, the last but not least of the pastel ladies... my dark blue skirt wouldn't let a single ray through...
The ladies stacked! Did you notice? Between them, they cover the whole rang of pastel colours: pale pink, pale blue, pale yellow.
The whole Lumières group present.
In civilian dress. They had this spooky elevator with a mirror roof. Makes you start the first time you look up. But when you carry your costumes and stuff downstairs late at night, you bring out the digicam... and spook others!